Three days until Aquaria release

Derek has written an interesting post over at the Bit-Blot blog, talking about Aquaria's evolution as a game and some of the design decisions that drove its direction. It's part four of a seven day ramp up to the game's release on Friday.

Parts one, two, and three have been great, well worth checking out if you haven't already seen them: Part one featured some of Derek's concept art (shown above), part two featured an excellent arrangement of some of the game's music by Alec, and part three featured a lengthy and entertaining interview with Jenna Sharpe, the voice actress for Naija.

Aquaria is due to be released in three days time.

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Monty's Christmas Special

Tim mentioned this in his last news update, but I thought it was cool enough to warrant a highlight. Monty's Christmas Special is a new game by Trevor “Smila” Story and Scottige created in collaboration with UK magazine Retro Gamer. Basically it's Monty on the Run, only twice as fast and set in the Retro Gamer offices.

Since I'm on a bit of a game video bender at the moment, I recorded a bit of a demonstration of the game to show off what it's like (above). Unfortunately that caused it to run a wee bit slower than it should have. Still, hopefully it'll give you some idea of what you're in for - a nifty retro game that's extremely well put together and lots of fun! Heartily recommended!

Name: Monty's Christmas Special
Developer: Auld Games (Smila and Scottige)
Category: Retro Platformer
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB or so honestly who could be bothered with the exact kilobyte figure
Download Page: Click Here

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New N+ Screenshots

New screenshots from Metanet Software's upcoming XBLA release N+ are up on IGN.

- screenshots from N+
- visit the metablog

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Boxhead: The Zombie Wars Preview

Sean Cooper's upcoming Boxhead sequel, Boxhead: The Zombie Wars. Made using the same engine, but features tile graphics by Daniel Cook.

The game will be released sometime around Christmas 2007.

- Play Boxhead
- Sean Cooper's site

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Better Games = Better World Contest

A new contest has been announced, sponsored by Values at Play. The deadline is the first of next year; for details check the link. First prize is apparently up to eight iPhones -- one per member of your team.

Apparently you don't have to create a game especially for the contest, because there are a few games I recognize that are entrants, but your game does have to be about building a better world. (Thanks to Patrick Dugan for the news tip).

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IGF 2008 Finalists

The finalists for the 2008 IGF competition have been announced.

Seumas McNally Grand Prize:
* Audiosurf
* Crayon Physics Deluxe
* Hammerfall
* Noitu Love 2: Devolution
* World of Goo

Best Web Browser Game:
* Globulos.com
* Iron Dukes
* Tri-Achnid

Design Innovation Award:
* Battleships Forever
* Fez
* Fret Nice
* Snapshot Adventures: Secret Of Bird Island
* World Of Goo

Excellence in Visual Art:
* Clean Asia!
* Fez
* Hammerfall
* Synaesthete
* The Path

Excellence in Audio:
* Cinnamon Beats
* Fret Nice
* Audiosurf
* Clean Asia!
* OokiBloks

Technical Excellence:
* World of Goo
* Goo!
* Audiosurf
* Axiom: Overdrive
* Gumboy Tournament

Visit the IGF site for a complete list with screenshots and descriptions.

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Garden Gnome Carnage

Garden Gnome Carnage is one of the better games created for the Game Maker winter contest so far. It's a pretty unique arcade game where you move a building left and right to swing a gnome who is attached to the top of it around in order to protect that building from invading elves. The gnome can also pick up bricks from the building and throw them at the invaders.

Mastering the movement takes a little getting used to because you can only pull the string he's attached to left and right, but isn't as difficult as it sounds. There's also a lot of depth to it, such as a combo system where you can knock elves into other elves and cause chain reactions.

One of the nicest touches is that each time you complete the game you get a new tip, and some of these tips reveal new abilities and techniques, giving it a lot of replay value. (I also love what happens when you reach 80,000 points.)

Name: Garden Gnome Carnage
Developer: Ultimortal
Category: Arcade/Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 5.4MB
Direct download page: Click Here

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